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"We’re encouraged that the architecturally-daring James R. Thompson Center — seemingly consigned to the scrap heap just a few years ago — is now set to become the downtown home for tech giant Google.

"In a deal announced by Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a Wednesday morning news conference outside the Thompson Center, Google will buy the building from the state for $105 million, then move in 2,000 workers once rehab and restoration, not yet started, are complete.

"'Google is one of Chicago’s most important companies,' Pritzker said. 'You are an integral part of our community and you have invested in your future while investing in ours.'

"It’s a win for both sides, and for our city.

"As part of the plan, the state will buy the former BMO Harris Building, 115 S. LaSalle St., from Prime Group for $75 million and relocate some state offices there. Pritzker said the state would consolidate space it currently leases downtown, a move that the governor said would save taxpayers $1 billion — over 30 years.

"Google, meanwhile, has a good track record when it comes to old buildings. The company paid $1.9 billion in 2010 for the 3 million square foot former Port Authority building in New York. The company is the building’s largest tenant and has helped bring other tech companies to the area.

"'The way we see it, the Thompson Center is more than just a building,' Karen Sauder, head of Google’s Chicago operations, said at the announcement.

"'Establishing a presence here in the Loop allows us to get in on the ground floor of revitalizing and breathing new life into the very heart of this city,' she said.

"This bodes well for the Thompson Center, but also for a Chicago downtown that’s still staggering from the pandemic and needs all the help, energy — and new office workers — it can get." (Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board, 7/27/22)

Google to buy, renovate Chicago’s Thompson Center; The tech giant’s move into the glassy state office could bring thousands of jobs. But what will this mean for the historical legacy of the building?, Claire Hyman, Reset, WBEZ Chicago, 7/29/22 (13:42 Interview)

"In the middle of a pandemic, Michael Reschke and Quintin Primo signed onto a massive rehab project, buying the James R. Thompson Center, a hulking building that had deteriorated from icon to eyesore.

"Their plan was to overhaul the building—home to 2,500 government workers and the city’s busiest mass transit stop—with hundreds of millions in renovation that would effectively strip it down to its steel frame and rebuild it. Reschke and Primo would sell back one-third of it to the state and hunt for new tenants for the rest, a task that appeared monumental at a time when companies are slashing office space to adjust to the rise of remote work.

"Plans changed after Primo reconnected with an old friend from Atlanta, Michael Tabb, whom he'd met as part of a national professional group for minority real estate executives formed nearly 20 years earlier. Tabb had recently joined Google’s real estate team. 'He said they were looking to expand significantly in Chicago,' Primo said.

"The result was Project Hercules, a suitable code name for the heavy lift required to rework an already massive transaction on a very short timeline. Google, one of the world's biggest companies, wanted to take over the entire Thompson Center.

"It was a dream scenario for Reschke and Primo—but only if they could move fast and get the state on board with a new plan as a July closing date approached.

"As it happened, Reschke was bidding to buy adjacent office buildings that BMO Harris Bank is vacating at 115 S. LaSalle St. and 111 W. Monroe St., distressed properties he could buy at a fraction of the value of the debt tied to them, part of a broader bet he was making on the future of LaSalle Street.

"'That's when the light bulb went off,' Reschke said.

"If he could get the state to throw out its plan for staying in the Thompson Center and instead agree to take space at 115 S. LaSalle, he could fill up two prominent-but-outmoded buildings at once.

"'We had a choice to make,' Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. 'We said, if you want to change the deal, and you’ve got a tenant who eventually wants to buy the whole thing, we’re open to that—especially because it’s Google. If Google wants to expand in the center of Chicago, that’s a tremendous development for everybody.'

"'Thank God the BMO building was available,' said Reschke, who signed a letter of intent to buy the loan tied to the properties in May and brought up the Google idea with the state. “The miracle of the transaction was how fast it came about and how all the pieces fit together,' he said. "It was a little bit like putting together a Swiss watch to make it run. . . .I haven't had much sleep."

"In the end, Reschke and Primo ended up with two old buildings and two very different clients who had one thing in common: a desire to be downtown. The resulting deals, involving 2 million square feet of office space, are a leap toward stabilizing the vacancy-ridden core of the Loop. It's the most significant real estate deal in the city in a generation.

"'I don't know what kind of magic dust Mike had,' Chicago developer John Murphy said of the reconfigured deal. He thought any developer would be hard-pressed to fix the Thompson Center's inefficiencies through a renovation and have a tough time leasing up the building, "but Google is a different tenant entirely. It's almost like a (co-working) environment with so many diverse business units. That type of tenant would probably fit very well within the (Thompson Center) configuration,' Murphy said.

"Whatever the payoff, Reschke acknowledges his good fortune. 'I do believe I'd rather be lucky than good,' he said. While he didn't anticipate Google in his original plan, 'where you are with timing and market forces around you sometimes are more important.'" (Pletz and Ecker, Crain's Chicago Business, 7/28/22)

"Google’s decision to take up residence in the James R. Thompson Center, formerly the State of Illinois Center, is a meaningful victory for Chicago’s preservationists and a very useful reminder that the city’s architectural gems include more recent buildings designed by postmodernists such as the late, great Helmut Jahn who died in a cycling accident last year.

"Jahn’s polarizing, multicolored 1985 building, it has turned out, was no white elephant after all.

"The all-glass exterior and the arrestingly layered skylight atrium were originally designed to suggest transparent state government. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but nonetheless an example of Jahn’s audacity and ambition, especially as he plunked down that crazy building amid Chicago’s boxy, straighter-laced skyscrapers.

"Even its admirers, and we are among them, have to admit the Thompson Center appears to be a North Loop visitor from another planet. Naysayers have long complained about its high energy and maintenance costs proving overly expensive for the state.

"But the theatricality of the building clearly appealed to Google’s parent Alphabet, whose high-profile arrival in that struggling section of downtown Chicago will be an important and timely economic boost to the surrounding blocks. And the sale drops $105 million in the state’s coffers to boot.

"Like many other corporations, Alphabet is struggling to get its workers back to the office. The purchase of such a signature building surely will be a part of incentivizing workers to get social and collaborative all over again. And it is, of course, a major commitment from a blue-chip, high-tech innovator toward not just a signature building, but downtown Chicago as a whole.

"Jahn, surely, would be as happy as anyone with an outcome far better than we had dared to hope. Ideally, we’ll still be able to get a sandwich, if not a driver’s license, in that gloriously weird atrium." (Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, 7/28/22)

"One of Chicago’s iconic pieces of public art will be getting a new home.

"French artist Jean Dubuffet’s sculpture 'Monument with Standing Beast,' in place in front of the Thompson Center since the building opened in 1985, is moving to a different spot in the Loop.

"With the state of Illinois selling the building to Google, the sculpture, once dubbed 'Snoopy in a Blender,' will move to the former BMO Harris Bank building at 115 S. LaSalle St. That building was recently purchased by the state to replace some of the office space lost with the Thompson Center sale.

"Cathy Kwiatkowski, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, said no date is set for the sculpture, owned by the state, to arrive at its new home.

"The 29-foot, 10-ton fiberglass sculpture was inspired by Dubuffet’s 1960 series of paintings called 'Hourlope.' In 1984, the late Ruth Horwich, art collector and one of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s founders, donated the sculpture in memory of her husband, Leonard Horwich. It was unveiled outside the still-incomplete Thompson Center in November of that year.

"'Monument with Standing Beast' has four elements, meant to represent an animal, a tree, a portal and a monument.

"Rolf Achilles, an art historian and professor at School of the Art Institute in Chicago, would prefer the sculpture stay in front of the Thompson Center. It’s a high-profile spot, he said, unlike its future location.

"'The Dubuffet deserves better than standing in the shade,' Achilles said. 'It won’t have the impact it has now; in other words, Dubuffet is going to be in exile.' (Perkins, Chicago Sun-Times, 7/31/22)

'The Monument with Standing Beast' sculpture located in the Thompson Center’s public plaza was created by one of the world’s most noted Modernist artists, Jean Dubuffet. It was a gift to the citizens of Chicago and Illinois and must be protected. We have seen important works of 20th century Chicago public art removed (Henry Bertoia’s Sonambient and Yaacov Agam’s Communication X9), destroyed (top surface mosaic of Marc Chagall’s Four Seasons), placed in storage (Alexander Calder’s The Universe) or sold at auction (Henry Moore’s Large Internal-External Upright Form). 20th century Chicago public art was a 2017 Chicago 7 Most Endangered, so it is imperative that this great Dubuffet sculpture be protected.

Preservation Chicago urges the City of Chicago with the support of The Prime Group and The State of Illinois to designate the Thompson Center as a Chicago Landmark. A Landmark designation could protect this building, plaza and public sculpture ensuring that these will be retained in any redevelopment of the site. Jahn’s career began in Chicago and is now celebrated around the world. Much like the Sony Center in Berlin (which was modeled on the Thompson Center), this is a building of the people, built as a monument and open to all, with many public spaces that should be forever open to all, and efforts to both protect its architecture and vision and activate the building should be implemented. (Perkins, Chicago Sun-Times, 7/31/22)

"The Century and Consumers buildings, two vacant downtown skyscrapers that are shamefully rotting away and now targeted for demolition by the federal government, might soon gain a powerful advocate.

"The Commission on Chicago Landmarks has asked the city’s Department of Planning to work on creating a landmark designation report on the early 20th century buildings, located at 202 and 220 S. State St.

"This is key because, traditionally, creation of the reports is almost always a first step toward granting landmark status to a site.

"'I think there’s a lot of examination that has to be done,' the commission’s chairman, Ernest Wong, said this month at a hearing on the buildings.

"For a while now, we — along with the town’s leading preservationists — have said the federal government’s plan to wreck the buildings to create a security plaza for the Dirksen Federal Building is a senseless affront to architectural preservation, and also to efforts to make State Street more viable.

"So it’s great to see the commission and the city weigh in. Both are important voices with enough weight to possibly change the outcome for the two buildings.

"The commission requested the preparation of a landmarks designation report after a July 7 meeting on the Century and Consumers buildings.

"In the wake of the [$52 million demolition earmark], one of the leading voices for saving the buildings, Preservation Chicago, proposed turning the structures into a limited-access archives center for religious orders and other organizations.

"'There hasn’t been a space for robust conversation in the past,' Ward Miller said. 'It’s the GSA giving directives.'

"The stance by the landmarks commission, and the Lightfoot administration by proxy, represents a potential turnaround from the city’s position just three years ago.

"But hopefully today is a new day. Would a city landmark designation — on its face — prevent the federal government from razing the buildings?

"Likely not. It could lead to a standoff that ends with the federal government using its power to bigfoot over the city’s wishes.

"Or — and this is what we want to see — landmarking the buildings could bring the judges, the city, the GSA and that $52 million earmark to the table to work out something that leads to these buildings being properly redeveloped.

"That’s what Chicago and downtown really need." (Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board, 7/23/22)

"The repair and restoration of Promontory Point has been a subject of debate and contention in Hyde Park for more than 20 years. And as of last week, a representative from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office told the Herald that the city will support a preservation approach to restoring the Point’s limestone revetment.

"'The Park District, along with the Army Corps and Chicago Department of Transportation have a role in ensuring that Promontory Point continues to remain the community asset that it has always been,' said a spokesman from the mayor’s office in a July 18th statement to the Herald. 'We are committed to working with the community on a design that properly addresses the historic nature of the Point… We are committed to a preservation-based approach and there will be extensive outreach to the community during the planning and design process.'

"This statement comes more than a month after Lightfoot’s comments regarding the Point’s preservation sparked outrage among some advocates. In an early June interview, Mayor Lori Lightfoot was first asked by the Herald if her office supported preserving the limestone or replacing it with concrete steps, as is in place along most of the lakefront. Though she said liked the way the limestone looks, Lightfoot added, 'I don't know if that's a realistic way to preserve the Point without it literally washing away.'

"The reaction was swift. The following week, the Point Preservation Conservancy (a private group advocating for a preservation approach to the design and restoration of the Point) published an open letter to the mayor criticizing this statement. They also requested that Lightfoot join them for a walk around the Point.

"Lightfoot took the conservancy up on that invitation, — accompanied by Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) and the mayor’s Chief Engagement Officer Martina Hone— joining the conservancy for an hour-long walk on July 4th, shortly after participating in Hyde Park’s 4th on 53rd Parade. According to members of the conservancy, Lightfoot and company were shown the group’s plans for repairing the limestone steps and “asked good questions.'

"In the July 18th statement, the Mayor’s spokesman said of the walk, 'The Mayor was grateful for the opportunity to visit the Point with the Promontory Point Conservancy and hear their concerns directly.'

"This walk was the latest effort in a renewed push for the Point’s preservation, which was reinvigorated in 2019 following the Chicago Park District’s announcement of a new shoreline study that would include Promontory Point. Over the last three years, a number of different studies have been proposed to explore the cost of rehabilitating the limestone or replacing it entirely, leaving residents concerned about the park's future." (Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 7/26/22)

"Construction on a long-delayed project to turn a historical Noble Square church into condos will begin as soon as the city grants a key permit, the developer said this week.

"St. Boniface Church, 1358 W. Chestnut St., was bought in 2016 by STAS Development President Michael Skoulsky, who pledged to convert the church and an empty lot next door into dozens of residential units.

"After years of delays, Skoulsky said Wednesday he’s started submitting permits for phase one of the project, which includes the church renovation and a putting up a three-story building behind it.

"Skoulsky said he’s done interior demolition and structural work on the almost-120-year-old church.

"'It’s been a ton of work … so we’ve done a pretty good job moving past all that. Now we’re just in for permits,' he said.

"The three-story building will include affordable residential units and office space for Northwestern Settlement House, a social services provider based a few blocks north.

"Overlooking Eckhart Park, St. Boniface was the focus of a protracted neighborhood preservation battle after the Archdiocese of Chicago closed it in 1990.

"The church was designed by architect Henry Schlacks, who also designed numerous other houses of worship around Chicago. St. Boniface Parish dates back to the 1860s, according to a website dedicated to its history. The church was completed in 1904.

"Facing demolition threats over the years, West Town neighbors and Preservation Chicago launched a campaign to save the building, culminating in Skoulsky buying the building.

"Now, as units are sold and permits submitted, Skoulsky is confident the project will move forward. He said he hopes the first tenants can move into the church by fall 2023.

"'At this point, there’s no way that it doesn’t come together,' said Skoulsky, who lives a few blocks west of the church. 'It’s finally happening, and as a neighbor I’m very happy about it.'

"Woodlawn community organizers say public masses have been suspended at the Shrine of Christ the King Catholic Church, and they worry the Archdiocese of Chicago is planning to shutter the landmark.

"Mass and other sacraments at Shrine of Christ the King, 6401 S. Woodlawn Ave., were suspended on Monday, according to Jennifer Blackman, a member of the Coalition to Save the Shrine, a nonprofit organization aiming to restore the church.

"Blackman said the ban came from the archdiocese under a directive issued early this year to bring parishes and shrines in line with a papal decree aimed at limiting Mass being celebrated in Latin. Christ the King Church only celebrates Mass in Latin.

"The Coalition to Save the Shrine was formed in January of 2016 after fire destroyed the roof of the church. The organization said more than $3 million was raised to repair the damage and save the church from demolition, according to Blackman.

"Gabriel Piemonte, co-founder of Save the Shrine, said the recent developments 'are a cause for concern.'

"'We and other community stakeholders are requesting that the archdiocese be transparent in the decision-making process to ensure the future of the building reflects its highest and best use,' Piemonte said.

"The building was constructed in 1927 as St. Clara Church. It was granted landmark status in 2003 as St. Gelasius.

"Blackman said representatives from Coalition to Save the Shrine plan to speak at Thursday’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks meeting. (Heather, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/2/22)

Preservation Chicago has worked closely with preservation partners for many years to defend and protect this significant building. The highly ornate 1923 church building at 6401 S. Woodlawn Avenue was devastated by a fire in October 2015. The historic church’s interior and roof were completely lost, but the massive limestone walls survived. The estimated cost of rebuilding was $9 million dollars so the Archdiocese was left with little choice but to demolish the remains of the Designated Chicago Landmark Building.

Then something of a miracle occurred. Due to an extraordinary preservation advocacy effort, within a few months of the fire, nearly $650,000 in pledges had been received to rebuild. Ultimately, the congregation, Woodlawn residents, the preservation community, and Preservation Chicago were successful in their efforts to preserve the building resulting in a transfer of ownership from the Archdiocese to a separate Catholic order, known as The Institute of Christ the King, at no cost, but with a commitment to rebuild the building and a Catholic presence in Woodlawn.

Initial funding was used to stabilize the building with the optimism that future monies would be raised for the installation of a new roof. Over $3 million dollars were raised. The rebuilding efforts for fire-damaged Shrine of Christ the King/St. Gelasius/St. Clara Church in Woodlawn reached an important milestone in March 2018 when the first new roof trusses were installed.

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1891, designed by architect Frederick Townsend, with additions by Theilbar & Fugard, 5253 N. Kenmore Ave. Tweet credit: City of Chicago DPD

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1891, designed by architect Frederick Townsend, with additions by Theilbar & Fugard, 5253 N. Kenmore Ave. Photo credit: Ward Miller / Preservation Chicago

"Epworth Church is one step closer to becoming a city landmark just as the historical church is set to be redeveloped — possibly into apartments.

"The city’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted Thursday to give Epworth Church preliminary landmark status, which would give the church campus demolition protections after an earlier effort to raze its buildings.

"The 131-year-old Epworth Church at 5253 N. Kenmore Ave. held its last church services in early May before a prospective new owner applied for a demolition permit for the church campus’ two buildings.

"The developer pulled the demolition request after blowback from neighbors and a pledge from Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) to seek landmark protections for the church.

"Osterman said any development plan that comes forward will be done in conformity with the city’s landmark protections. He said he will work to include community accessible space in the redevelopment plans.

“Epworth has been an anchor in our community,” Osterman said at the meeting. “It’s very important we keep the building preserved.”

"The church has been added to the National Register of Historic Places and was given 'orange-rated' status under the city’s historic survey. That status prompted a 90-day delay and review of the demolition permit, though it was ultimately withdrawn before the timeline was up.

"Edgewater residents and preservationists Carla Bruni helped the church earn its federal historic status. The church campus, set back from the street with its ornate limestone façade, provides greenery and human scale in a dense part of Edgewater neighbored by high rises on nearby Sheridan Road.

"Epworth is worthy of landmark status because of its exemplary architect, the notoriety of its architects and its historical significance as an example of Edgewater’s earliest days, according to the city’s landmark report. (Ward, Block Club Chicago, 7/8/22)

Preservation Chicago has been working to find good preservation outcome for Epworth United Methodist Church for over two years with congregants, neighbors, the Edgewater Historical Society, and Ald. Harry Osterman (48th). A petition and periodic news articles maintained wider awareness of the threats to Epworth Church. The announcement of the closing of Epworth and a "demolition sale" sounded the alarm bells.

Despite assurances from the developer that demolition was not being considered, the receipt of the demolition permit application by the City of Chicago confirmed the true intentions of the developer. Due to extensive neighborhood advocacy, coordination and preparation, a rapid response took the developer by surprise and forced a withdrawal of the demolition permit application.

Despite the loss of many interior features due to the demolition sale, Preservation Chicago strongly supports the Chicago Landmark Designation of Epworth United Methodist Church and will continue to strongly support the neighborhood throughout this process.

During the demolition sale, neighbors and Preservation Chicago monitored the Epworth Church closely as any exterior features and fixtures would be protected by a future Chicago Landmark Designation. The Alderman's office and City of Chicago Landmarks Division was updated throughout the process.

Preservation Chicago notified the demolition sale company that it would be improper to sell any fixed objects and elements visible from on the exterior, especially the stained glass windows from legendary Chicago artists Healy and Millet. While these large windows appear to be intact, six significant rose windows in the tower appear to have been sold and removed. Ward Miller quickly contacted the St. Louis based architectural salvage company responsible and negotiated an agreement to return them to the building in the event that it is landmarked and restored. We are optimistic that they will be restored as part of the reuse of the building.

Preservation Chicago would like to see these buildings and facades remain visible from the street and unobstructed by potential new construction. The views of the Parish House/Community Building must remain visible. The existing green space and garden is an essential component of the historic property and is not a vacant lot ripe for development.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks has approved Adopt-A-Landmark funding for Second Presbyterian Church. Located at 1936 S. Michigan, the church is designed as a Gothic Revival church that has an arts and crafts interior. The rear portion of the church has two rooms that are open to the public for meetings and events which are the subject of the funding request.

Undergoing a wide range of renovations totaling $900,000, this application focuses more narrowly on the interior restoration of the Fellowship Hall and North Parlor. The approved funding will provide $250,000 to offset a $508,000 budget for the renovation of the two.

With landmarks approval, the project can proceed ahead and acquire permits for the project. A timeline for the renovations was not discussed, but the church will need to return to the commission to present the final result.

"The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously during its July 7 meeting to award the KAM Isaiah Israel a $250,000 grant for exterior renovations from its Adopt-a-Landmark Fund.

"The Kenwood synagogue, 1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd., is already partway through a $5 million project that will fix the domed roof, replace the restrooms and repair the exterior masonry and interior plaster.

"KAM Isaiah Israel was created when two congregations, KAM (Kehilath Anshe Ma'arav — "Congregation of the Men of the West,") and Temple Isaiah Israel, merged in 1971. But both congregations have long histories in the neighborhood and Chicago. KAM was organized in 1847 and Temple Isaiah Israel traces its roots through its antecedent Kehillah B'nai to 1852. Prior to organizing, KAM Isaiah Israel traces its roots back to the arrival of some of the first Jewish settlers in Chicago (approx. 1841), and remains the Midwest’s oldest Jewish congregation.

"The synagogue itself was designed by architect Alfred S. Alschuler and constructed in 1924. Six years after the congregations merged, the building was designated by the city as an official Chicago Landmark.

"'It is one of the city’s oldest synagogues, tracing its roots back to the earliest days of Chicago,' said Ward Miller, Executive Director of Preservation Chicago. '(The grant) really is a wonderful commitment by the city of Chicago to an esteemed landmark.'

"Per the synagogue’s budget submitted in its grant application to the Landmark Commission, the total cost of this window restoration is estimated to be about $430,000. This leaves a little more than $180,000 for the congregation to cover.

"KAM’s stained glass windows, which are about 98-years-old, include depictions of the prophet Isaiah and Moses with the Ten Commandments. For the restoration, the synagogue will use Daprato Rigali Studios, 6030 N. Northwest Highway, historic preservation architects with experience working on houses of worship. Rigali studios are also working on the larger renovation project." (Monaghan and Faris, Hyde Park Herald, 7/7/22)

"Tumbled-down brick walls, nubs of charred timber — even the cast-iron frame and melted strings from what was once a baby grand piano.

"Strolling through the remains of the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church — on the first public tour since the devastating 2006 fire — feels almost like traipsing through Roman ruins.

"'This is our coliseum. The Romans have theirs; we have ours,' said Mark Kuberski, vice president of Central Building & Preservation, as he led the tour Thursday.

"Except that the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan-designed building, erected in 1890, isn’t expected to remain a ruin. It doesn’t look like much now — only two exterior walls remain, and only because they’re held in place with steel braces.

"But on Thursday, the project to transform the celebrated church into a museum of the history of gospel music got a boost, with $2.1 million in state funds. Thomas A. Dorsey, considered the 'father of gospel music,' was a choir director at the church, which many consider to be the music style’s birthplace.

"State Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago, who attended the church as a child, helped secure the funding.

"The first phase of the project — repairing the original limestone-and-brick exterior walls, replacing the two that fell down and putting on a roof — is expected to cost about $10 million, project organizers said. The hope is to have that completed within the next two years, said Antoinette Wright, president and executive director of the museum project." (Esposito, Chicago Sun-Times, 6/16/22)

"Blacks in Green, a Woodlawn-based environmental and community revitalization nonprofit, has received a $150,000 grant from an African American history preservation fund as it seeks to transform the two-flat where Emmett Till lived into a West Woodlawn community space.

"The home, 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave., became a Chicago landmark last year. Blacks in Green bought it in 2020; Executive Director Naomi Davis told the Tribune the plan is to open it in 2025, when the Obama Presidential Center opens in Jackson Park.

"In 1955, the 14-year-old Till’s brutal murder in Mississippi was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, galvanizing opposition to Jim Crow, especially after Till’s mother, Mamie Till, insisted on having an open casket funeral for her son in Bronzeville to exhibit the barbarity of his lynching.

"Davis told the Tribune that the goal is for the in-need-of-repairs Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House to be “an international heritage pilgrimage destination.” With the grant, a project director position will be created within Blacks in Green to guide the home's restoration, as well as focus on programming projects for once the museum opens.

"The grant was awarded by the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This year the fund awarded more than $3 million to 33 historic sites and cultural organizations nationwide.

"The National Trust has granted money to several Black South Side cultural attractions in recent years, including the planned Mojo Museum at Muddy Waters' North Kenwood Home, 4339 S. Lake Park Ave., the Sweetwater Foundation in Washington Park, 5749 S. Perry Ave., the South Side Community Arts Center, 3831 S. Michigan Ave., and The Forum theater, 318 E. 43rd St." (Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 7/19/22)

We’re thrilled, after all these years of advocacy, that the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley home is protected with a Chicago Landmark Designation and that the museum reuse project is gaining momentum. Preservation Chicago played an essential role in coordinating all the stakeholders and ensuring that all the pieces were in place to allow the process to successfully move forward.

Preservation Chicago has been advocating for the Chicago Landmark Designation of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley home since 2006. More recently, in 2017 we led another push for landmark designation. We continue to actively support of the effort, including testimony to help secure Adopt-a-Landmark funding for renovation.

A special thanks to Naomi Davis of Blacks in Green, 20th Ward Alderman Jeanette Taylor, Maurice Cox Commissioner of Chicago Planning and Development, and the Chicago Landmarks Division Staff. Additional thanks to Mary Lu Seidel and Jonathan Solomon for researching and writing the outstanding Chicago Landmark Designation report.

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1891, designed by architect Frederick Townsend, with additions by Theilbar & Fugard, 5253 N. Kenmore Ave. Tweet credit: City of Chicago DPD

"Epworth Church is one step closer to becoming a city landmark just as the historical church is set to be redeveloped — possibly into apartments.

"The city’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted Thursday to give Epworth Church preliminary landmark status, which would give the church campus demolition protections after an earlier effort to raze its buildings.

"The 131-year-old Epworth Church at 5253 N. Kenmore Ave. held its last church services in early May before a prospective new owner applied for a demolition permit for the church campus’ two buildings.

"The developer pulled the demolition request after blowback from neighbors and a pledge from Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) to seek landmark protections for the church.

"Osterman said any development plan that comes forward will be done in conformity with the city’s landmark protections. He said he will work to include community accessible space in the redevelopment plans.

“Epworth has been an anchor in our community,” Osterman said at the meeting. “It’s very important we keep the building preserved.”

"The church has been added to the National Register of Historic Places and was given 'orange-rated' status under the city’s historic survey. That status prompted a 90-day delay and review of the demolition permit, though it was ultimately withdrawn before the timeline was up.

"Edgewater residents and preservationists Carla Bruni helped the church earn its federal historic status. The church campus, set back from the street with its ornate limestone façade, provides greenery and human scale in a dense part of Edgewater neighbored by high rises on nearby Sheridan Road.

"Epworth is worthy of landmark status because of its exemplary architect, the notoriety of its architects and its historical significance as an example of Edgewater’s earliest days, according to the city’s landmark report. (Ward, Block Club Chicago, 7/8/22)

Preservation Chicago has been working to find good preservation outcome for Epworth United Methodist Church for over two years with congregants, neighbors, the Edgewater Historical Society, and Ald. Harry Osterman (48th). A petition and periodic news articles maintained wider awareness of the threats to Epworth Church. The announcement of the closing of Epworth and a "demolition sale" sounded the alarm bells.

Despite assurances from the developer that demolition was not being considered, the receipt of the demolition permit application by the City of Chicago confirmed the true intentions of the developer. Due to extensive neighborhood advocacy, coordination and preparation, a rapid response took the developer by surprise and forced a withdrawal of the demolition permit application.

Despite the loss of many interior features due to the demolition sale, Preservation Chicago strongly supports the Chicago Landmark Designation of Epworth United Methodist Church and will continue to strongly support the neighborhood throughout this process.

During the demolition sale, neighbors and Preservation Chicago monitored the Epworth Church closely as any exterior features and fixtures would be protected by a future Chicago Landmark Designation. The Alderman's office and City of Chicago Landmarks Division was updated throughout the process.

Preservation Chicago notified the demolition sale company that it would be improper to sell any fixed objects and elements visible from on the exterior, especially the stained glass windows from legendary Chicago artists Healy and Millet. While these large windows appear to be intact, six significant rose windows in the tower appear to have been sold and removed. Ward Miller quickly contacted the St. Louis based architectural salvage company responsible and negotiated an agreement to return them to the building in the event that it is landmarked and restored. We are optimistic that they will be restored as part of the reuse of the building.

"'It's amazing that there's like a space in Chicago where people can just come and visit nature,' said Amal, a rising senior at Disney II Magnet High School, as she looked across a pond in the South Shore Nature Sanctuary on July 16.

"That Saturday afternoon, she visited the sanctuary with her mother to participate in activities organized by the sanctuary's volunteer stewards to commemorate its 20th anniversary.

"Pledging to set aside more natural areas like the sanctuary throughout the city, former Mayor Richard M. Daley dedicated the preserve on June 30, 2002. Located along the South Shore lakefront, just east of the South Shore Cultural Center, between the Cultural Center's beach and the seventh hole of the South Shore golf course, the Sanctuary contains approximately six acres of dunes, wetlands, prairie and woodlands, and is the home to dozens of species of trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers, fish, amphibians and reptiles.

"Currently, the sanctuary is a focus of concern for South Side residents who oppose the proposed development of a championship-level golf course in South Shore and Jackson Parks, the so-called Tiger Woods Golf Course, as the development would destroy parts of the sanctuary (it’s worth noting that some residents are in favor of the course, so long as it doesn’t affect the sanctuary).

"Among other species, the sanctuary is home to the Royal Catchfly, a scarlet-red flowered plant listed as endangered by the State of Illinois, and milkweed, the only food source for caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly. Monarch butterflies were recently added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered species Red List.

"The proposed golf course, a single 18-hole championship golf course occupying the sites of the extant 9-hole South Shore and 18-hole Jackson Park Golf Courses, has been dubbed the Tiger Woods Golf Course because of the role played by Tiger Woods’s golf-course design firm, TGR Design, in creating the plan for the course.

"State Senator Robert Peters (D-13), who had been on a tour of the sanctuary with volunteer steward Susannah Ribstein, echoed what Amal had said earlier, 'It's one of few places where people in the city can actually really sort of enjoy the diversity of nature…I would hope that they can figure out how to protect such a beautiful piece of land.' Noting that his engagement photos had been taken in the sanctuary, Peters continued, 'It plays an important role for the community. I want to support it.'

"After taking a tour with Ribstein, Yvette Moyo, a member of the South Shore Cultural Center Park Advisory Council, said, 'This is life itself. This is chlorophyll. It's green. It's flowers, everything that I love and thrive on.'

"'I am so in favor of them (the Park District and golf course designers) doing everything except being here, not the nature sanctuary. I am an advocate for them to connect the two golf courses, to give the youth opportunities to see ... a different view of greenery and grass and nature. And that would then perhaps calm the spirit of some youth, who don't get a chance to stop and see how beautiful our natural growth is,' Moyo said.

"Then she said, 'I don't have a genuine concern (about the nature sanctuary being destroyed). It is too valuable to our community, and I'm definitely a stakeholder in the community, and it's sort of like 'over my dead body.'

"At the end of the day’s events, Susannah Ribstein said to the Herald, 'This is a rare place in the city that has had 20 years to grow and develop. And that's what I wanted to celebrate, to share the magic and importance of that.'" (Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 7/25/22)

"Adhering to Chicago tradition, Bruce Finkelman is making no small plans for the Salt Shed. The former Morton Salt complex in West Town is being transformed into a performance venue and had its first outdoor concerts this week, the first Tuesday and Fleet Foxes Wednesday. Andrew Bird and Iron & Wine are scheduled for Aug. 12.

"Finkelman is the managing partner of 16″ on Center — the hospitality group behind the project — and seeks to 'change how people go to concerts' with the new venue. Though many parts of the reported $50 million renovation remain months away from completion, the space on display at the soft opening suggested Finkelman’s goals are within reach. There is nothing like the Salt Shed in Chicago.

"Located directly across from Goose Island and framed on the east by the North Branch of the Chicago River, the Salt Shed occupies a 4.2-acre site that’s long been a distance marker for anyone headed downtown along the Kennedy Expressway by train or car. The warehouse roof’s iconic Morton Salt sign originally caught Finkelman’s attention when he was a kid traveling in the back seat of his parent’s car. Its mystique held sway when he returned to Chicago after college and later, along with partner Craig Golden, became one of the entrepreneurs behind staples such as Thalia Hall, Revival Food Hall and the Promontory.

"'The idea of adaptive reuse with the Morton Salt complex was very appealing,' said Finkelman. 'We wanted to turn it into something for the neighborhood and community.'

"As a manufacturing complex and warehouse for salt built in the 1920s, the buildings along the river were occupied by Chicago-founded Morton Salt from their construction until 2015, and sold in 2017. Zoning for their adaptive reuse was approved last year.

"One visual in particular is impossible to miss: a panorama of the Chicago skyline. The striking perspective — and the nearer-sighted activities of kayakers and boaters making their way on the river — underscores Finkelman’s belief that Salt Shed symbolizes 'the epicenter of the city.' It’s another reason he and his partners preserved every detail they could.

"'Early on we could’ve scrapped it all and put up a new building,' Finkelman said. “Doing that would’ve been cheaper, easier and faster. But that’s not what we want. You pay homage to the Morton legacy. You have to see how it all fits into the history of Chicago.'

"The conveyor-belt mechanisms, truck weighing scale, steel frameworks and loading areas that punctuate the exterior space hint at the architectural elements that await patrons once the interior facility opens later. On a tour, Finkelman pointed out stretches of refinished hardwood floors comprised of two-by-fours turned on their side to support crushing weights; sliding fireproof metal doors; beefy columns and beams once coated with white salt powder; the remains of an enormous Erie City Iron Works boiler complete with an intimidating cluster of fire tubes and heat-charred bricks; exposed brick walls; and soaring ceilings." (Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 8/3/22)

"Far Northwest Side neighbors are disappointed and frustrated after Lake Effect Brewing Company bowed out of plans to open a taproom in a historical neighborhood firehouse, joining a line of businesses pitched for the area that never opened their doors.

"Lake Effect announced Tuesday it was abandoning the firehouse project, which began in 2016, due to years of city delays. With its lease up in December, the Old Irving Park business secured a building in Avondale and plans to move operations in the next few months.

"City Council agreed to sell the firehouse, built in 1906 at 4841 N. Lipps Ave., to Ambrosia Homes last year as part of its $1 land sale program. Ambrosia paid $208,000 to the city, which used the money for remediation reimbursement. Eight rental loft apartments are planned on the floors above.

"The $2.4 million development was scheduled to be completed by this summer. Ambrosia President Tim Pomaville said he will resubmit plans to the city once a new tenant is in place.

"'It took five years for the building to be sold to Tim, who had the money and is a very willing developer,' Ryan Richter said. 'To me, there is a larger issue around the city’s various bureaucracies, commissions and committees this property had to go through.'

"Since the Lake Effect Brewery news was announced, Pomaville said his phone “has been blowing up.” He’s been showing the space and has received several leads for tenants to take the firehouse’s ground floor.

"'Everyone is very positive,' Pomaville said. 'I’m keeping the city [informed], and people are aware. Everything is going to be very good.'

"Pomaville said he is committed to bringing in a business that has the same spirit as Lake Effect, such as a restaurant, bar or brewery. That makes neighbors like Baehring happy, as they want to see more walkable eateries in the area that can benefit from access to the CTA, she said.

"'The adaptive reuse [of the firehouse] is great,' Baehring said. “Whatever tenant can go in next, I hope it can get whatever support they need to move into the space.'" (Parrella-Aureli, Block Club Chicago, 7/14/22)

Preservation Chicago applauds Tim Pomaville and Ambrosia Homes for his dedication and commitment to this adaptive reuse over the past 5 or more years. He genuinely partnered with the community, listened to and integrated the comments, and changed the trajectory of his development accordingly. A special thanks to the dedicated and outstanding advocacy of the Northwest Chicago Historical Society, Susanna Ernst, Frank Suerth, and Jacob Kaplan. The Northwest Chicago Historical Society and Preservation Chicago encourage Ambrosia Homes to seek a Chicago Landmark Designation for the building. This could be considered as an individual landmark or as an extension of the thematic Chicago Fire House Landmark District.

"Thousands of apartment units and a hotel could replace the former Salvation Army property and a neighboring site steps from the city’s first casino in River West.

"Chicago-based Shapack Partners plans to transform two areas, including the closed store at 509 N. Union Ave., into an apartment-hotel hybrid campus, according to two zoning applications submitted to the city.

"The Salvation Army closed in March, citing significant disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The site was home to a thrift store and an adult rehabilitation center, which also closed in March. Shapack Partners bought the campus in May for $25 million, according to Crain’s. (Mercado, Block Club Chicago, 6/23/22)

"Originally revealed by Urbanize last month, the multi-tower development surrounding the former Salvation Army building, now dubbed NOMA, has been reviewed by the Committee on Design. The mixed-use project will occupy a collection of sites all generally bound by N. Desplaines St, W. Hubbard St., N. Halsted St, and W. Ohio St. The project will convert the Salvation Army building into a new hotel and build an approximate 1,500 units of housing across four buildings paired with extensive retail and food/beverage space.

"With Eckenhoff Saunders Architects tapped for the conversion of the Salvation Army building, the six-story structure will be converted into 141 hotel rooms. The primary facades will be preserved, with a small two-story addition added to the southern half of the building. Clad in contemporary metal, the addition will allow for destination dining and hotel amenities. Once revitalized, the building will be able to anchor and contribute substantially to the new district.

"At the pedestrian scale, the urban plan calls for extending the public realm across the sites and through the streets. Connecting the sites, an art walk and park would be envisioned for W. Hubbard St in collaboration with the city. An art walk within the development will begin at the Salvation Army Building and continue down N. Union Ave to connect to the southern sites which will use the Mews concept from Shapack Partners’ previous projects at 167 N. Green and 170 N. Green to lace the sites together and create an active pedestrian experience. The meandering spaces will offer food and beverage options as well as retail spaces. A grand cultural institution, placed at W. Grand Ave and N. Desplaines St will connect the development and create a cultural anchor for the project that will enliven the entire community." (Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 7/15/22)

The Wrigley Lodge / Salvation Army Building is a unique blend of two distinct architectural styles. A soaring Streamline Modern element joins the 5-and 6-story red brick industrial lofts to create wonderfully balanced asymmetry. The result is an iconic building. Its distinctive appearance and important history make this building an important one to save. The building was designed by C. J. Furst and Charles Rudolph in 1891.

In 1929, William Wrigley Jr. purchased the building and donated the property to the Salvation Army for use as a lodging house for unemployed men. A formal ceremony was held on October 23, 1930. The Wrigley Lodge served as a homeless shelter throughout the Great Depression and World War II. Following the war, it increasingly served as a veterans’ rehabilitation center to assist returning servicemen.

Wrigley Lodge had the capacity to lodge 1,200 men nightly and to feed over 2,000. But the goals were more broad and included rehabilitation services, paid employment opportunities within the buildings, and assistance in finding employment.

After the war, the Salvation Army began a fundraising campaign to remodel the building, and on December 9, 1947, a permit was issued for the alterations. It was remodeled in the Streamline Moderne style including the striking, asymmetric, vertical entryway with glass block and rounded corners. (Preservation Chicago 2021 Chicago 7 Most Endangered)

Preservation Chicago applauds Chicago-based Shapack Partners for their planned adaptive reuse. The Salvation Army building is an outstanding structure that deserves to be protected and preserved as part of the site redevelopment. While the specifics are still unknown, we are encouraged by recent reporting that indicates a preservation-sensitive outcome for this important building.

"Plans for renovation of the historic Laramie State Bank building in Austin are taking shape. Nearly 20 small businesses are planning to remodel or open on the stretch of Chicago Avenue that calls itself the Soul City Corridor. And Shawnie Jones' year-old Chicago Eats Sports Bar is enjoying robust demand for catering and special events.

"OPRHC Executive Director Athena Williams expects to close on its financing in the fall, with most construction to take place in the first half of next year. Supply chain delays have raised the cost of the project to about $55 million from $38 million previously projected, she says.

"Austin is one of 10 neighborhoods receiving an economic boost under the city's Invest South/West initiative, which aims to revitalize Chicago's most disinvested communities. Since the program's launch in 2019, the city has awarded 10 projects valued at around $400 million. About half are expected to break ground this year. Overall, the broad program has attracted $1.5 billion in public, private and philanthropic investment commitments.

"'It's about process,' says Malcolm Crawford, president of the nonprofit Austin African American Business Networking Association and manager for the Chicago Avenue corridor. People in the community are used to fighting, with an 'it's me against the world' mentality, he says. Now that resources are coming, 'we have to figure out how to make it happen.'

"The Chicago Avenue corridor is seeing an influx of new businesses, some funded with city Neighborhood Opportunity Fund grants, others with private capital. Jones, a longtime entrepreneur who opened Chicago Eats Sports Bar last year at Chicago and Laramie, says the business has taken off with events such as baby showers and retirement parties. Catering demand from local schools and hospitals has helped. The city is spending $21 million to improve the streetscape with lights, benches and elements to build on the Soul City theme.

"Developer Lennox Jackson plans a 20-unit residential building with market-rate apartments, hoping to attract more affluent tenants who don't qualify for subsidies but can't afford the higher rents of downtown or neighborhoods like Bucktown. 'If you increase discretionary income of residents, that helps to attract retail tenants,' Jackson says.

"Despite the tensions rising from the influx of investment, community leaders say they are optimistic. 'This project is bringing opportunity for the community at large,' Williams says. 'We have to go beyond our corner. It represents all of Austin.' (Crown, Crain's Chicago Business, 7/8/22)

This is an ideal development project for INVEST South/West and we strongly applaud Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Maurice Cox for selecting Laramie State Bank for the program. We recognize and applaud their strong leadership in ensuring a outstanding outcome for the building and community, and their commitment and efforts to strongly reinvest in Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Preservation Chicago has been advocating for Laramie State Bank building for many years, but with more urgency since it became vacant after its 2012 foreclosure. It was a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2019. We have attended many building court hearings to provide support for the building. We been in regular communication with the owners and stakeholders with ties to the building, including the alderman and Cook County Land Bank. We have attempted to find private developers with an interest in tackling this restoration and reuse of this building. We’re thrilled the City has stepped forward. This is a outstanding outcome for the building.

"Developers of a multimillion-dollar project that would transform a historical Englewood firehouse into an eco-food hub could break ground this fall as they work through the summer to get final approvals.

"McLaurin Development Partners, a real estate development team, received a key city approval this month from the Community Development Commission to bring its Englewood Connect project to fruition.

"Englewood Connect will turn the vacant, 98-year-old firehouse at 63rd and Halsted into an eco-food hub and year-round community 'living room' where neighbors can gather and local businesses and entrepreneurs can grow and operate.

"The project was the winning proposal in the city’s INVEST South/West initiative, created by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to bring new developments to West and South Side neighborhoods.

"Phase one of Englewood Connect, which will include restoration of the firehouse and construction of the 'Living Room,' is estimated to cost $15 million. Previous estimates placed costs around $10 million.

"'Englewood Connect would be one of the catalysts that not only continues the turning of the tide of perception of Englewood but also as a shining example that there is a viable economic development opportunity in Englewood and the South Side,' McLaurin said. (Reed, Block Club Chicago, 6/28/22)

"South Side healthy living center will soon open on 79th Street, bringing neighborhood essentials to the community, nearly two years after winning a $10 million citywide prize. The Healthy Lifestyle Hub, 839 W. 79th St., will open July 29, 2022 said Carlos Nelson, director of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation.

"The four-story Healthy Lifestyle Hub will house a myriad of tenants, including Mikkey’s Retro Grill, Bank of America, UI Health, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Illinois and a UIC Neighborhood Center. The Illinois Tollway will train Black and Brown community members at the hub for jobs with the organization, Nelson said.

"A UI Health Clinic and Urgent Care Center will occupy the entire second floor and a portion of the third. The clinic will offer medical, dental and mental health services. It’s expected to serve more than 30,000 patients per year, Nelson said.

"A high-tech kitchen and training center sponsored by the Chicago Bears will open on the first floor, giving local chefs, neighbors and students a place to master healthy cooking. A cafe has already been built to house a local coffee shop. The hub will also offer free wifi throughout the building.

"Nelson said the best charm of all will be the 18-by-18-foot windows on the first floor. The oversized windows will “bring in light and light up 79th Street and Auburn Gresham, figuratively and literally,” Nelson said.

"The site of the hub was once home to the Rusnak Bros. Furniture Store and Showroom, which opened in 1925. The building had bricked-in windows on almost every floor with ground-floor retail, Nelson said.

"In the 1970s, the building became a dark public aid office with no windows, Nelson said. For years, the building stood vacant. But once the development corporation got to work, they used 'a lot of money and a lot of time' to restore it and add something new. They took 'painstaking measures to preserve the terra cotta of this building' and 'cored out' the center of the building to add an elevator, Nelson said. They also 'blasted out windows' on every floor, he said.

"In 2020, the Healthy Lifestyle Hub was the winner of the Pritzker Traubert Foundation’s $10 million Chicago Prize. The hub also received $4 million from the city’s Invest South/West program. The Bears donated more than $600,000 to power the high-tech kitchen, Nelson said. Companies like Whirlpool and Kohler donated appliances and fixtures for the bathrooms and offices, as well.

"'Almost 30 graduating classes at Leo High School have walked past this bricked-up vacant building, and it became a backdrop of their existence,' Nelson said. 'For me, it was important for us to design this from a standpoint that says, 'Hey, kids, we live in a place that is just like the West Loop.'" (Reed, Block Club Chicago, 7/8/22)

Preservation Chicago and The St. Jude League Building/The Williams Building at 205 W. Monroe donated 16 large, original cast iron window members on July 11, 2022 to the Illinois Railway Museum. The current plan is to incorporate these building elements into the IRM visitor center. We wish to applaud the The Williams Building management as well as the Illinois Railway Museum for their interest, patience and support of this effort.

The Williams Building was commissioned by Jon Williams in 1898-1899 and designed by the architectural firm of Holabird & Roche, one of Chicago’s most famous architectural firms. This building is a surviving example of the “Chicago School of Architecture” also known as “The Chicago Commercial Style.”

The 205 W. Monroe Building is a ten-story building clad with red-brick and terra cotta. The building's metal frame supporting allows for large windows and relatively thin exterior walls for a building of its height. These cast iron components of the building’s façade and expression divided the large bands of windows vertically. This is similar in design and grouping to many of the world’s first skyscrapers within blocks of its location during the 15 years prior to its construction.

It was a multi-use building with the lower three floors intended to be sales floors and showrooms with their signature expansive glass storefronts on the ground floor and large “Chicago Windows” on floors two and three on the Wells Street façade. The upper seven floors were designed for manufacturing to service the 'wholesale district' of garment manufacturers in Chicago's Loop. (Preservation Chicago)

"Like this red brick honey at 205 W. Monroe that caught my eye last week. Built in 1898 as the Williams Building, this early skyscraper is almost buried among much taller and newer buildings, and semi-obscured by the “L” tracks running next to it down Wells Street.

"But it wants to be seen, so let’s look closer. Notice the building is glassy and minimal — one of the many downtown skyscrapers of that era (such as the Reliance Building/Hotel Burnham) that seem to foreshadow the architectural modernism that would come decades later.

"And that grid of Chicago windows, each composed of a big, fixed center window flanked by sets of two originally operable windows.

"The Williams Building is the work of Holabird & Roche, a firm that later became Holabird & Root. It’s not their most notable work. That honor would go to (take your pick) City Hall/County Building, the former Daily News Building at 400 W. Madison, the Chicago Board of Trade, or many others.

Still, the Williams Building is a solid, graceful and nicely-maintained piece of early Chicago architecture: an old friend you’re glad is still around." (Bey, WBEZ Chicago, 11/25/13)

"The city is reviving a push to redevelop a massive and empty historic warehouse it owns in McKinley Park, starting with a plan to put the property up for sale.

"The Chicago Community Development Commission today unanimously approved a proposal to seek developers for the six-story building at 1769 W. Pershing Road and a property next door, at 1717 W. Pershing, that the city uses as a vehicle-storage facility.

"The properties sit in the city’s old Central Manufacturing District. It was one of the nation’s first industrial parks when it opened in the early 20th century, but now it’s mostly a collection of imposing and underutilized brick-and-terra-cotta structures waiting to be transformed. So far, however, plans to redevelop most of the buildings haven’t made it past the talking stage.

"In 2018, the city solicited developers for the building at 1769 W. Pershing and a matching warehouse it owns next door, at 1819 W. Pershing. The city also entered the properties in a design competition sponsored by C40, a global network of cities working to combat climate change. But the process didn’t yield any acceptable development proposals, and the city decided not to move forward.

"'The buildings have seen years of deferred maintenance and may have un-remediated environmental concerns,' Nolan Zaroff, a planner in the Department of Planning & Development, told the commission at its meeting today.

"'In the past, city efforts to market and sell these properties have considered them as a whole, but this RFP looks to break them into more manageable chunks, which we think will improve the likelihood of them receiving feasible proposals,' Zaroff said.

"Last year, a development group secured a combination of public and private financing to convert another vintage warehouse down the street, at 2159 W. Pershing, into 120 affordable apartments.

"The Department of Planning & Development plans to release a request for proposals for the two city-owned properties on July 18. Developers will be required to submit their proposals by Oct. 21." (Gallun, Crain's Chicago Business, 7/12/22)

Preservation Chicago applauds the City of Chicago for moving forward with this Request for Qualifications and Proposals. This approach has proved successful with the Old Main Post Office and others. We also wish to applaud the City of Chicago for recognizing the value of these historic buildings and for requiring that proposals include their redevelopment.

The Central Manufacturing District has long been a concern of Preservation Chicago. In 2020, Preservation Chicago named the Pershing Road section of the Central Manufacturing District, which includes the clock tower and warehouses, as one of Chicago’s most endangered historic places. In 2021, Preservation Chicago did the same for the CMD Original East District.

Chicago’s CMD was one of the first planned industrial districts in the country. The grand and magnificent buildings that comprise the CMD harken back to a time in the early 1900s to the 1920s when big companies began housing operations there – including Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Albert Pick & Co. and the U.S. Cold Storage Company.

Creating a Landmark District now will provide significant safeguards to protect the CMD buildings going forward. A remarkable number of the buildings are intact, but development pressure is mounting. Now is the time to advance a Chicago Landmark District for both the Pershing Road buildings and the East District (bounded by Ashland Avenue to the west, 35th Street to the north, Morgan Street to the East, and Pershing Road to the south). Both of these areas are already National Register of Historic Places Historic Districts. Preservation Chicago was responsible for the idea of creating a Central Manufacturing District National Register District and funded much of the historical research for this successful designation.

Of particular concern is the CMD Clock Tower which was listed for sale in November 2021. Its is iconic, but also suffering from years of deferred maintenance and neglect.

"A South Side neighborhood once known for its fancy auto dealerships now has a pedestrian-friendly look thanks to city investments.

"Michigan Avenue between Cermak Road and 24th Place — part of the area known as Motor Row — has been reduced to three lanes, had its sidewalks widened and received landscaping, LED smart lighting and improved crosswalks as part of an $11 million, multi-year project that recently wrapped up.

"Motor Row also has new benches, trash receptacles and bike racks as part of the project; they’re upgrades that will benefit walkers and neighboring businesses, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at Revel Motor Row, 2400 S. Michigan Ave.

“Investment in the infrastructure of our neighborhoods is an investment in improving public safety, encouraging economic development and deepening racial equality. They are all intertwined,” Lightfoot said.

"The city wants to install and improve 10 other streetscapes in neighborhoods across Chicago; $584 million will be set aside for streetscapes, from which $146 million will be focused on traffic safety efforts, officials said." (Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 7/7/22)

Motor Row is comprised of a collection of early 20th Century automobile architecture by architects including Holabird & Roche, Alfred Alschuler, Philip Maher, Albert Kahn, and Christian Eckstorm. It was also home to The Chicago Defender, a important newspaper which served Chicago's African American community.

As a vibrant music hub, Motor Row was home to Chess Records which during the 1940s recorded blues and rhythm and blues and later gospel, soul, jazz, rock and roll. Motor Row was designated a Chicago Landmark on December 13, 2000.

"A steel-and-glass building on Bronzeville’s northern edge is among Chicago’s finer modernist structures, yet it has gone relatively unnoticed and uncelebrated since its construction 60 years ago.

"But that could change over the next year or so.

"The long-vacant, two-story former Lake Meadows professional building at 31st Street and Rhodes Avenue is set to come alive again in early 2023 as office space for the Howard Brown health organization.

"Work has already begun, with the building stripped down to its steel bones as part of the transformation.

"'It’s a jewel on the prairie,' Lee said.

"Designed by architecture firm SOM and completed in 1959, the two-story, 26,000-square-foot building originally was office space for telephone company Illinois Bell. Soon after, the building was converted to professional offices largely serving Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center — now demolished — located across 31st Street.

"Built in 1954 by local real estate titan Draper & Kramer and designed by SOM, the Lake Meadows complex was also the city’s first urban renewal project.

“We love the building,” said Gordon Ziegenhagen, Draper & Kramer’s senior vice president." (Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 7/2/22)

"Construction is set to begin on the Covent Hotel redevelopment this September after years of planning and approval hurdles. Originally proposed back in 2016, the project at 2653 N. Clark will reuse the existing Covent Hotel building while adding a new building to the parking lot behind the building.

"Planned by The NHP Foundation, the conversion of the Covent Hotel will see its 64 SRO units renovated into 30 small affordable studio apartments. Designed by Weese Langley Weese Architects, the historic building will front N. Clark St with 4,700 square feet of retail space and a new residential lobby. The building will have no parking spaces.

"NHP Foundation originally bought the Covent Hotel for $7 million back in 2016 and the project will be financed through a HUD FHA loan as well as tax-exempt bonds, LIHTC financing, and historic tax credit equity. (Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 8/2/22)

“The Covent Hotel dates to 1915, when it was built to accompany an adjacent theater, which was demolished in the 1960s. The surviving three-story building has long served as a single-room occupancy, but it fell into disrepair after its previous owner died, city officials said.

“Ald. Michele Smith (43rd), who has supported the project since before it went to the city’s Plan Commission in 2020, said it was a “very difficult project to bring to fruition because of the high cost in our community.”

“‘It was very important to me and the surrounding community that we preserve this [single-room occupancy], which has been used in this fashion since just past the Depression,’ Smith said. ‘We couldn’t be happier.’

“The hotel’s renovation will also involve replacing doors, windows and elevator systems, as well as converting its eight ground-level commercial spaces into four larger retail spaces, said Mecky Adnani, senior vice president at NHP.

“‘This is what the community wanted,’ Adnani said. ‘These kinds of rental units are needed in the Lincoln Park area, and we’re really glad we could preserve the building while creating these 30 great studio apartments.’ (Wittich, Block Club Chicago, 2/22/22)

“The Covent Garden Theater, opened in June 1916 for the Lubliner & Trinz circuit, could originally seat 2,684, and was one of the largest theaters in the Lake View neighborhood of Chicago. It featured vaudeville and stage shows as well as motion pictures. The theater was taken over by the Balaban & Katz chain on December 22, 1932 and was renamed Covent Theatre. It was remodeled in 1934 by the firm of Pereira & Pereira.

“The theater was part of a complex which also included the Hotel Covent, or Covent Hotel. It was closed in 1958. When the theater was demolished, only the auditorium was razed, replaced by a parking lot. The hotel remains today.” (Krefft, Cinema Treasures)

"The Standard Club, homeless since deciding to close in 2020 and agreeing this year to sell its Plymouth Court building, is loaning—and potentially donating—some of its artwork to the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Four Great Chicago Fire-themed murals by 20th-century painter and woodcarver Edgar Miller will be conveyed to the museum under a four-year loan agreement, according to what members were told last night in a Zoom call annual meeting. If the club fails to find a new home by the end of the period, it will offer to donate the nearly 70-year-old murals to the Art Institute.

"The Standard Club lives on, with about 300 remaining members, reduced dues and hopes of occupying another building. In the meantime, members enjoy reciprocal privileges with the Union League Club of Chicago and other clubs across the country. The Standard Club's 11-story property was sold to real estate investor Remo Polselli, with a recorded purchase price of $9 million.

"The Miller panels are in climate-controlled storage after being removed from the club's first-floor bar room in February by Methods & Materials, an art installer and rigger based on the Northwest Side. Roger Machin, its director, confirmed they were destined for the Art Institute.

"Unlike other fixtures at the club, the panels were not auctioned off.

"'I think that Miller's work is not particularly well known, and they're very large pieces,' some 12 feet by 6 feet and more suitable for a museum, says Zac Bleicher, executive director of the Chicago-based Edgar Miller Legacy project. 'What makes the murals at the Standard Club so unique, you have to carve into (black) linoleum,' he added, citing the technique as popular with railroad car decorators of yore.

"The Standard Club's most visible work of art—'Complex Forms With Color Ink Washes Superimposed' by Sol LeWitt—was a mural in the third-floor dining room that measured 16 feet by 27 or 28 feet. Painted on a wall, it will disappear, by design, if it hasn't already. Rights to recreate it were auctioned off by Sotheby's last year for $189,000. (Strahler, Crain's Chicago Business, 6/29/22)

"Medinah Temple’s three-story interior will need renovations as it becomes home to a temporary casino for Chicago, officials said Tuesday.

"The city held its first community engagement session, asking neighbors for their feedback on and questions about the temporary Bally’s Casino set to open in the Medinah Temple, 600 N. Wabash Ave., in River North.

"The temporary casino will be used until Bally’s permanent casino and resort at the Tribune Publishing site in River West can open. The temporary casino will bring in $55 million in tax dollars, city officials have said.

"Bally’s hopes to open the Medinah Temple temporary facility by June, with company officials saying the temporary site will be used for two to three years.

"The temporary casino was supposed to be at 700 W. Chicago Ave. — a former Tribune advertising insertion plant — but its location was changed to Medinah Temple after concerns were raised about traffic in and out of the Chicago Avenue location during construction of the permanent site. But the temple will need renovations to fit the casino, officials said Tuesday.

"Bally’s has teamed up with local architectural firm STL Architects to renovate Medinah Temple for casino use, officials said.

"The exterior of the building is protected by landmark status, so the only changes there will include swapping out the building’s Bloomingdale’s signs and flags for those of Bally’s." (Mercado, Block Club Chicago, 7/20/22)

Preservation Chicago strongly advocated that if and only if a Casino was coming to Chicago, that the only appropriate location for it was at Lakeside Center at McCormick Place. In a January 2022 Chicago Tribune Op-Ed, we wrote, "if a casino is coming to Chicago, Preservation Chicago strongly supports the adaptive reuse of Lakeside Center for it. The plan offers a once-in-a-generation chance to create a dynamic south lakefront entertainment and cultural district — and a way to embrace our past and strengthen our future."

"An extraordinary report from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas reveals what happens when government not only doesn’t get out of its own way, but instead adds to the poverty and inequity that has plagued Chicago and the south suburbs for decades.

"In essence, the report details how those neighborhoods never had a fighting chance to attract investment, which remains the crucial problem undermining progress today.

"You would think, then, that a Scavenger Sale program would help spur investment in those blighted areas. But that’s not the case. As the report shows, the bulk of Scavenger Sale properties never receive a bid. And only a few of the bids result in the actual transfer of property to new owners or see taxes paid off.

"The Cook County Land Bank Authority, which also competes with private bidders for properties and in many cases has an advantage over private bidders, took ownership of properties in less than one in 10 Scavenger Sales between 2007 and 2019. And many of the properties cycle through again and again on the sale list.

"'Because the majority of the properties at the Scavenger Sale are vacant lots or abandoned businesses or homes, the sale’s inability to make anything but incremental change allows swaths of unused, deteriorating land in economically struggling, mostly minority city neighborhoods and suburbs to continue deteriorating,’’ the report concludes.

"Why the dismal track record? The county’s Scavenger Sale makes acquiring distressed property difficult. As the report states, it can take up to three years in some cases for private buyers to win a property outright. And bidders often must compete with the county and Land Bank, which are not on the hook to pay off delinquent taxes.

"Sound arduous? Maybe that's why Cook County is the only county in the state that still conducts this kind of Scavenger Sale.

"Instead, most counties have moved to a cleaner trustee program, which allows counties to obtain tax liens on properties that aren’t sold at regular tax sales. If taxes and penalty fees aren’t cleared up by the owner, the property then goes into a trust where the liens are cleared, and the property goes up for sale. Any proceeds from an eventual sale are then distributed to the taxing bodies." (Crain's Chicago Business Editorial Board, 7/25/22)

In April 2022, the Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative again partnered with Preservation Chicago and students from the Preservation Planning Studio class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to conduct a field survey of workers cottages. The survey of was similar to a 2021 study in Logan Square, this time examining housing in the southwest side McKinley Park neighborhood. Led again by professor Charlie Pipal, twelve grad students gathered information about workers cottages and related two-flat buildings. With a larger group of surveyors compared to the previous year, the class was able to canvass a far larger area, and indeed covered the entire McKinley Park neighborhood including more than 4,000 properties. Surveyors noted the historic character of other buildings in the area as well for future reference. Information on each building was recorded via smartphone using the Regrid parcel-mapping app by Loveland Technologies.

McKinley Park, like the Bridgeport and Brighton Park neighborhoods to the east and west, is home to a large number of workers cottages. Indeed the surveyors identified almost 1,300 houses or more than a third of the buildings in the neighborhood as workers cottages. An additional 9% of the houses in the area are the taller gable-roofed two-flats which are closely related to workers cottages.

"A Bridgeport staple near the home of the White Sox is closing next week, ending its long history serving diner classics and its famed corned beef sandwich on the South Side.

"Bridgeport Restaurant, 3500 S. Halsted St., will close June 30, owners Irais and Josie Rodriguez confirmed. They are trying to sell the business.

"Looking to retire, the Rodriguezes put the restaurant up for sale in 2019. The couple has owned and operated the restaurant for about 15 years, almost always working seven days a week, Irais Rodriguez said. Now, they’re ready to close and spend more time with family.

"'In this area, we’ve had customers for so many years. It’s kind of sad, they don’t want me to go,' he said. 'But they understand that we’ve been working for so many years here.'

"Also known as Bridgeport Family Restaurant, the diner has been in the neighborhood at least 75 years, Irais Rodriguez previously said. It has long been known for its steak and eggs, melts and the 35th Street Special Sandwich: sliced corned beef and sauerkraut topped with Swiss cheese.

"'We have so many memories with people in the neighborhood,' Irais Rodriguez said. 'We’ve been in some TV shows, ‘Chicago P.D.’ and ‘Chicago Fire,’ and those memories will always stay with my family and my kids. I’ll miss everyone around here, but it has to come to an end somehow.' (Mathewes, Block Club Chicago, 6/23/22)

A few doors down from the Bridgeport Restaurant, Preservation Chicago saved the Ramova Grill art deco fixtures over ten years ago and gifted them to Benton Settlement House where they have been reinstalled in the community room of the gymnasium building. In partnership with owner Grazina "Gina" Biciunas-Santoski, we also helped to coordinate the donation of the Healthy Foods Lithuanian Restaurant fixtures, which closed after 70 years, to Benton House a few years later.

"Cycle Smithy has been helping Chicagoans find the perfect bike for 49 years — but the shop will close in September.

"Owner Mark Mattei, 71, said it’s time for him to retire. He’ll let the lease run out on the business, 2468 1/2 N. Clark St. In the meantime, everything’s 30 percent off, “and maybe I’ll throw what’s left over in the lake,” Mattei said.

"Employees taped up signs this week and did a small chalk drawing of Mattei, his white hair flying in all directions, on the board outside the shop. It’s a relatively quiet end for a shop that’s long been beloved for its vintage bikes — and for pairing Chicago kids with their first bicycles.

"'Most people started riding one as a kid,' Mattei said Monday. 'You can ride around the block, away from your parents and into a neighborhood you’ve never seen.'

"'Bikes are freedom. What’s not to love?' he said.

"The more than 40 vintage bicycles Mattei displays inside — a history lesson in cycling since the 1800s — are not and have never been for sale.

"'I can spend all day talking about how these aren’t crap,' Mattei said. 'Every bike has a story.'"

"Cycle Smithy at 2468 ½ N. Clark Street is scheduled to close in September 2022. (Liederman, Block Club Chicago, 7/27/22)

"The man who prevented the demolition of a historically significant bungalow in Beverly and spent a decade restoring it has it on the market.

"'Nobody was living there but a possum when I bought it,' David Kroll says of the 1909 bungalow on the Southwest Side.

"One of seven Prairie-style homes on one street designed by Walter Burley Griffin before he moved to Australia in 1914 to design that nation’s capital city, the house was boarded up and foreclosed by a lender before Kroll bought it in 2005 for $275,000.

"At the time, Kroll says, the house had been vacant for something like five years, and 'the next step for it was going to be demolition.'

"Kroll is now asking $489,900 for the five-bedroom, roughly 2,200-square-foot bungalow on 104th Place, which is also called Walter Burley Griffin Place.

"Over the course of a decade, Kroll restored the plaster interior walls and the stucco exterior, replaced the wood floors and rebuilt the cantilevered canopy on the front, doing much of the work himself. In some places, he did a modern take on Griffin's original, such as the stacked-stone fireplace mantel in the living room. Kroll also added two full baths and one partial bath, supplementing the original single bath.

"'It was a labor of love,' Kroll says. 'I grew up around the corner and always liked these houses.” This one, known as the Edmund C. Garrity House, is the second in the group that Kroll restored. (Rodkin, Crain's Chicago Business, 5/20/22)

"A rare find in Woodlawn is now on the market! This Victorian masterpiece built in 1872 is a one of a kind. You'll be awed by the meticulous detailing and fine craftsmanship on the exterior.

"An expansive front porch is the perfect greeting spot to welcome your guests. The foyer features a wood burning fireplace and coffered ceiling indicative of the era. This grand style Victorian features three large bedrooms, two and a half baths and an updated kitchen with white shaker cabinetry. The piece de resistance awaits in the huge finished attic filled with natural light from the four skylights and the original windows.

"The possibilities are endless! Don't wait, this is your opportunity to buy a piece of Chicago history. Sold AS-IS"

"This HUGE stately, oversized Austin foursquare-style home on Washington Boulevard is overflowing with vintage charm and is ready for its next chapter. Five bedrooms (including finished attic w/stairs) and loads of potential!

"Be sure to view the floor plan for layout. Corner lot, with side-entry garage. Needs considerable interior and exterior work, but there are many original details worth saving. Original wood paneling, light fixtures, built-ins, and stained glass. Bring your ideas for updating or restoring. Original windows, but kitchen and bathrooms are updated. Boiler is 3 years old.

"Bring your contractor and see this grande dame of a home! Sold as-is."

"STUNNING GORGEOUS GRAND VICTORIAN. MAJESTIC 10 ROOM, 5 BEDROOM GRAND DAME WITH WRAP AROUND PORCH SET ON 2 LOTS. APPROX. 2,300+ SQ FT. THE INVITING EXTERIOR OPENS UP WITH RELAXING FRONT PORCH. ORIGINAL DOUBLE DOOR ENTRY WITH LARGE FOYER WITH WALK IN CLOSET. ORIGINAL DESIGN OF FORMAL & INFORMAL PARLORS WITH ORIGINAL FIREPLACE. TALL CEILINGS, COVE MOLDINGS & ORNATE MILLWORK GRACE ALL ROOMS. MAIN LEVEL BEDROOM SERVES AS A 5TH BEDROOM OR DEN. MASSIVE CHEF'S KITCHEN WITH AN ISLAND LOADED WITH CUSTOM WHITE CABINETS, QUARTZ COUNTERTOPS, UNDERMOUNT SINK, MAGNIFICENT TILED BACKSPLASH & STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES. THIS DREAM KITCHEN OPENS TO A LARGE DINING AREA WITH A PANTRY CLOSET. ENCLOSED 4 SEASON SUN DRENCHED SITTING PORCH.

"4 LARGE SECOND FLOOR BEDROOMS. 2 WITH WALK IN CLOSETS. MASSIVE 2ND FLOOR BATH WITH DOUBLE SINKS IS ALL NEW & UPDATED. HOUSE IS SERVED WITH NEW DUAL HVAC SYSTEMS. NEW WATER TANK. 200 AMP ELECTRIC SYSTEM. NEW ROOF & NEWER SIDING. NEW WINDOWS. PROFESSIONALLY PAINTED INTERIOR. ALL NEW UPGRADED LIGHTING AND CANNED LIGHTING. CUSTOM 2 PANEL DOORS. GORGEOUS BATHS WITH NEW FIXTURES & TILING. MASSIVE PRIVACY FENCED YARD WITH NEW SOD. OFF STREET PARKING FOR 4 VEHICLES. CLEANED UP PAINTED BASEMENT FOR STORAGE OR ENJOYMENT. QUIET LOW TRAFFIC STREET. STRAIGHT UP FROM HISTORIC WEST PULLMAN PARK. METRA ELECTRIC KENSINGTON STATION IS ABOUT 6 BLOCKS AWAY & EASY ACCESS TO EXPRESSWAYS. FLOORPLANS IN ATTACHMENTS & IN PHOTOS" (Redfin Listing)

"A permit was issued late last week to remove a two-story residence along with a detached frame garage, located at 3440 N Avers Avenue in the Avondale neighborhood. The permit’s owner has been listed as 2315 N Kenneth LLC.

"All Concrete Chicago Inc is serving as the demolition contractor. No permits or plans for a future build have been submitted at the time of this writing." (Rickets, Chicago Yimby, 8/1/22)

"GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY IN HOT AVONDALE! THIS BRICK 2 FLAT WITH ALSO A LEGAL GARDEN UNIT IN THE HEART OF AVONDALE SITS ON A 50" LOT. LARGE 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS IN ALL 3 UNITS WITH PLENTY OF NATURAL LIGHT. FIRST & SECOND UNITS HAVE HARDWOOD FLOORS THROUGHOUT, ALL 3 UNITS HAVE LARGE EAT IN KITCHENS WITH WALK IN PANTRIES. SPACIOUS ROOMS THROUGHOUT ALL UNITS. 2ND FLOOR UNIT (OWNER UNIT)VACANT HAS CALIFORNIA CLOSETS, CENTRAL AIR FORCE HEAT AND MUCH MORE. EACH UNIT HAVE LARGE PRIVATE STORAGE SPACES. LAUNDRY AREA IN BASEMENT WITH COIN OPERATED WASHER/ DRYER. FENCED IN BACKYARD, DRIVEWAY THAT LEADS YOU TO A 2.5 BRICK CAR GARAGE. WALK TO ALL PUBLIC TRANS. GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR LIVE-IN OWNERS WITH RENTAL INCOME. MANY UPDATES!" (Redfin Listing)

The Demolition Delay Ordinance, adopted by City Council in 2003, establishes a hold of up to 90 days in the issuance of any demolition permit for certain historic buildings in order that the Department of Planning and Development can explore options, as appropriate, to preserve the building, including but not limited to Landmark designation.

The ordinance applies to buildings rated red and orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey (CHRS), but it should be modified to include all buildings included in the survey. These buildings are designated on the city's zoning map. The delay period starts at the time the permit application is presented to the department's Historic Preservation Division offices and can be extended beyond the original 90 days by mutual agreement with the applicant. The purpose of the ordinance is to ensure that no important historic resource can be demolished without consideration as to whether it should and can be preserved.

Preservation Chicago is advocating to extend the existing Demolition Delay Ordinance to at least 180 days or longer, in order to create the time community members, stakeholders, decision makers, and elected officials need to conduct robust discussions regarding the fate of these historic buildings and irreplaceable Chicago assets. The support of the Mayor and City Council is necessary to advance this effort.

#100960059

Date Received: 07/05/2022

Ward: 39th Ward Ald. Samantha Nugent

Applicant: Hanna Architects, Inc.

Owner: 3244-50 Bryn Mawr, LLC C/O Igor Michin

Permit Description: Partial demolition of an existing 1-story commercial building with a new 4-story addition.

Status: Under Review

#100955534

Date Received: 07/01/2022

Ward: 1st Ward Ald. Daniel La Spata

Applicant: IR Design Firm, Inc. C/O Hemal Purohit

Owner: 1535 N. Maplewood Apartments, LLC C/O Gregory M. Fordon, Jr.

Permit Description: Partial demolition of a masonry two-flat to accommodate a new one-story rooftop addition.

#100975594

Date Received: 06/10/2022

Ward: 43rd Ward Ald. Michele Smith

Applicant: Quality Excavation, Inc. C/O Grainne Keane

Owner: GrowCor, LLC C/O Charles Grode

Permit Description: Wreck and removal of a 2.5-story, masonry, multi-family residential building.

Status: Released 07/28/2022

#100968140

Date Received: 06/10/2022

Ward: 29th Ward Ald. Chris Taliaferro

Applicant: McDonagh Demolition

Owner: Vanessa Perea, Jaime Enriquez, et al.

Permit Description: Emergency wreck and removal of a three-story, frame residential building.

#100970938

Date Received: 05/17/2022

Ward: 47th Ald. Matt Martin

Applicant: Demox, Inc. C/O Vitalii Grygorashchujk

Owner: Jerald and Pamela Kreis

Permit Description: Wreck and removal of a 2-1/2 story frame residential building.

1325 W Carmen Ave, Chicago, IL 60640

$899,000

Sale Status: Contingent

"DEVELOPER ALERT! ATTENTION DEVELOPERS, INVESTORS AND REHABBERS! Unique and Exceptional opportunity on one of the best blocks in the area. Coveted 40x136, RT-4 zoning, in exceptional residential area. Outdated property best suited for teardown or rehab project. Bring your ideas to transform this vintage home with incredible potential, or tear down and build a multi-unit condo development. Originally built as a three-unit, property was converted into single-family home. The home's current condition needs updating and repairs throughout. SOLD AS-IS."

#100970529

Date Received: 05/12/2022

Ward: 48th Ald. Harry Osterman

Applicant: Heneghan Wrecking & Excavating Co., Inc.

Owner: LS 5251, LLC C/O Steve Ciaccio

Permit Description: Demolition of a one- and two-story masonry church building with a basement.

#100958829

Date Received: 04/14/2022

Ward: 47th Ald. Matt Martin

Applicant: Moss Design, Inc.

Owner: Ellen Bradley

Permit Description: Partial demolition of a two-story, masonry residential building to accommodate a two-story side and rear addition.

2109 W. Wilson Ave., Ravenswood. Photo Credit: Google Maps

#100946230

Date Received: 12/3/2021

Ward: 40th Ald. Andre Vasquez

Applicant: Alpine Demolition Services, LLC

Owner: Doris Eneamokwu

Permit Description: Opening of closed existing windows, install new window frame and glazing, repair existing glazed brick as needed (tuckpointing) [removal of ornamental masonry panel]

"As of September 2, 2021 it seems that the beautiful terra cotta face that has looked down over Devon Avenue for more than 100 years is no more. No one is quite sure what happened, but there was scaffolding on the building and someone was chipping away at it in the morning, and it was gone by the afternoon. And the Assyrian American Association name is no longer on the building either.

"The New Devon Theater, with its distinctively austere glazed block façade featuring a large arch and a large bust of a woman’s face, was built in 1912, and was quickly eclipsed by the nearby Ellantee Theater. It disappears from news listings after October, 1917.

"By 1923 it had been converted to a Ford dealership. By 1936 it had become an American Legion hall. In the 1950s it operated as a radio and TV store. Since 1963, it has served Chicago’s Assyrian community as the home of the Assyrian American Association of Chicago." Cinema Treasures.org

“It’s an old, common cry in a city where demolition and development are often spoken in the same breath, and where trying to save historic homes from the wrecking ball can feel as futile as trying to stop the snow. My Twitter feed teems with beautiful houses doomed to vanish in the time it takes to say ‘bulldozed.’ Bungalows, two-flats, three-flats, greystones, workers’ cottages. The photos, posted by people who lament the death of Chicago’s tangible past, flit through my social media feed like a parade of the condemned en route to the guillotine,” mused Mary Schmich in her Chicago Tribune column on July 12, 2018.

"Permits were issued last week for the demolition of a two-story commercial building located at 210 W Chestnut Street in Near North Side neighborhood. The structure will give way to 868 N Wells Street, a 25-story tower serving as the next phase of JDL’s North Union megadevelopment."

"A demolition permit was issued on Wednesday for a two-story frame multi-unit residence along with a detached frame garage located at 1457 W Roscoe Street in the Lake View neighborhood. As of this writing, no permits have been filed for a future build."

Update: Chicago Vocational High School was approved for National Register of Historic Places application by the Commission of Chicago Landmarks meeting on July 7, 2022.

"We’ve been plenty concerned about Chicago Vocational, the architecturally important but underutilized Art Deco/Art Moderne designed high school in the city’s Avalon Park neighborhood.

"Built in 1941 for 4,000 students, only about 800 pupils currently attend the school at 2100 E. 87th Street.

"The city’s second-largest public school building — only Lane Tech is larger — Chicago Vocational is so underused, officials closed off a nearly block-long wing along Anthony Avenue, a few years ago.

"There was even talk a few years back of wrecking the Anthony wing, which triggered concerns among the school’s alumni about the building’s future.

"But those fears might be allayed a bit now. That’s because the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council last month voted to recommend the National Park Service list the rambling 81-year-old school on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It is simply one-of-a-kind and thus the school is well-deserving in taking its place among other noted and honored structures,” said Michael L. Mims, a 1978 graduate of the school — he majored in architectural drafting — who is leading the National Register nomination effort.

This is good news that we hope leads to a full-on effort to preserve the historic school — and rebuild its curriculum also.

"Now called Chicago Vocational Career Academy, but best known by its original name, Chicago Vocational High School, CVS sits on a 22-acre campus west of the Chicago Skyway.

"During its prime in the 20th century, the school provided a top-notch vocational education on the then-largely industrial Southeast Side.

"But rather than stick students with a bare-bones, factory-like school building, Chicago Board of Education architect John C. Christensen designed a stylish building, rippling with architectural details.

"'CVS is an exemplary building and architecturally distinct from any other public school in Chicago,' Oram said. 'But CVS is more than another Art Deco landmark. CVS is a monument of social history that represents the experiences of local students, teachers, and families.'

"But Mims and Oram’s good work shows the city must also get about the business of granting CVS local landmark status.

"A city landmark designation would help protect the building from demolition or unsympathetic alterations.

"Together, a city landmark designation and the National Register could make a solid foundation to reinvest in CVS and turn it into the academic asset it once was — and must be again." (Chicago Sun-Times Editorial, 7/2/22)

Is Chicago Vocational HS headed for the National Register of Historic Places? This is good news that we hope leads to a full-on effort to preserve the historic school — and rebuild its curriculum also, Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board, 7/6/22

"It’s been an open secret for the past decade that McCormick Place’s ragged Lakeside Center needs a major, big-ticket rehabilitation.

"Additional proof came Monday evening when a big section of the brick cladding adorning the structure’s mammoth podium suddenly collapsed and spilled onto the Stevenson Expressway ramp to northbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

"The collapse is another reminder that the hall’s owner, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, needs to step up repairs at Lakeside Center and give some serious thought to the 51-year-old building’s future before things inevitably worsen.

"In April, the MPEA reported the building needs a staggering $400 million rehabilitation, including a new 19-acre roof and fixes to the hall’s parking structure, plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems.

"Lakeside Center’s exterior glass — and there are acres of that, too — needs replacing, and the voluminous interior spaces need work also.

MPEA could seek state funding to rejuvenate Lakeside Center, but nearly a half-billion dollars is still a mighty big ask for a building that now represents McCormick Place’s past more than its future

"And demolishing the building and reclaiming the lakeshore on which it sits is a tough option.

"According to the MPEA, Lakeside Center’s 30,000-square foot kitchen serves the McCormick Place campus. The agency also says the building has a host of mechanical and communications equipment, and chilled air lines that service the other McCormick Place buildings also.

"When Lakeside Center was being considered for a casino site earlier this year, the MPEA responded that taking the building offline meant a $1.7 billion hall would have to be built to replace the lost meeting hall’s space and functions.

"Demolition could run into the tens of millions at least, experts tell us. And it would also likely cause a Donnybrook of a preservation battle, given the modernist building’s history — it was once among the most impressive convention halls in the nation — size, architectural significance and architects: the acclaimed Gene Summers and a young Helmut Jahn.

"It’s a civic embarrassment — and a dangerous one at that — for one of the city’s most visible and iconic structures to just up and crumble into the street like a common shack.

"But the incident could also be a call to duty, for the MPEA, the city, the state and Chicago’s considerable architectural talent to begin now mapping out a new day for the old building."